Avantra Family Wealth Inc. Takes $249,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Avantra Family Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,084 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $222.56 on Monday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $221.34 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.15, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.08.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.